Line in the Sand
by Tri42
Summary: What if Jack had been with Sam on that fateful day.


"Sam! Sam, Get Down!"

I noticed the Ori soldier walk in to the room. I couldn't get to her soon enough. I saw the blast. Felt her fall. Heard her scream in agony. There weren't enough bullets in my P-90 to get justice for the man who had just shot my wife. I had only looked away for a second when he came in.

After I dropped the soldier and cleared the hallway, I went straight to her. There was too much blood. This was NOT going to be good.

"Sam, honey, we've got to go. You're gonna be alright, but I've got to get you to the gate."

She fought him. I knew she wasn't going to leave this planet without Merlin's device.

"We can't leave." She said between ragged breaths. She could barely keep her eyes open to look at me.

"Sam, we have to. I can't carry you and all that junk. We've got to go before more soldiers show up."

She looked at the device, and looked back at me. Through pained eyes, I heard her say that we couldn't leave the device here. I reached for the c4 in my pocket and was about to set it, when she weakly grabbed my arm. I knew what she was trying to tell me. That I couldn't destroy the only piece of technology that could help us beat the bad guys.

I really hate it when she's right, which is pretty much all the time.

"Activate it." She said through gritted teeth, the pool of blood underneath her growing by the second.

It wasn't much longer till she passed out. It wasn't much longer that I figured out how to turn the device on. I had watched her do it the first time, and my memory served me right. For once.

I checked her pulse. She was alive. Barely. I knew what I had to do; I didn't like the thought one bit. The vows we took said nothing about sowing each other up from battle wounds. I gloved up and looked her over. A clear through and through from an energy weapon was always a mess to clean up. I had basic field training for this, but she needed surgery, and a doctor. Neither of which I could give her right now.

I gathered supplies and began to irrigate and sow up what I could. It wasn't 10 minutes in to "surgery" that she moaned and gasped in pain. I gave her some morphine and tried to calm her. I wasn't even half way done and knew that the worst was yet to come. I still had to stitch up the back side. We made some small talk. It was all she could do to not scream. I knew she was in excruciating pain, despite the morphine I gave her. 30 minutes later, I was done patching her up.

"Do you want to sit up? I can bring you to the cot you had setup?" I asked.

Weakly, she replied, "Just give me a minute. I need to rest."

I flashed back to a younger Carter. Same pained look and in need of being patched up. She rarely had these moments. It was usually myself that was in need of being sewn up and doped with morphine.

"Ok. You're definitely going to have to pick me up. I can't move right now." She weakly smiled at me as she said it. If we were anywhere else, I would have smiled back. But right now, I was worried. I was so worried, I could lose whatever lunch I had left. I carefully picked her up, trying hard not to jostle her too much, and laid her down on the cot. I propped her head up with a pillow and tucked her in a little. Her face was sheen with sweat, but I could tell she was shivering. I gave her some more morphine to help with the pain.

Over the next few hours, I watched a she was beginning to spiral downward. She needed a doctor and she needed one fast. I had no idea how to get us out of this situation. Thousands of missions. Hundreds of skirmishes with different enemies. And this was the time she might actually die and I was powerless to save her. As the minutes passed, I couldn't help but feel like this would be her last mission. Her last minutes with me.

I did everything I could to keep her with me. We talked about everything I could think of to keep her interest. Then the time came that I dreaded. She began to talk about the letters, the letters that I was to pass on to Cassie, Daniel, Teal'c, and Mark. Then there was the letter to me. I couldn't sit by anymore. I had to get her out of here. I couldn't face that letter that was sitting in her database waiting to be read. I got up suddenly and began to pace.

"Sam, I can't do this. I can't sit here and watch you die! We are getting out of here. We can make a run for it and I can get you home."

"What about the device? What are you gonna do? Blow it up and hope for the best. It doesn't work that way Jack. You can't arghhhhhh…" She screamed in agony. Her morphine was wearing off. We barely had enough for two more hits for her to take. This wasn't going to be a pretty ride. I had to get her home. I had to get her home now.

She was writhing in agony, trying to get comfortable. She stopped me from giving her morphine. I could hear her thinking. She had a plan.

"I need to think clearly."

She went unconscious right after she wrote the code to encompass the village in the cloak. I barely got the computer off of her lap before she collapsed back onto the cot. I watched as her breathing shallowed and she lost the battle with consciousness. I held on to her hand for dear life and waited for my radio to chirp. The team had to be in the clear.

I keyed my mic and prayed. I prayed to God that someone would answer. "General O'Neill to any SG personnel. Come in."

"O'Neill, it is Teal'c. We are safe. I have the Colonel and Vala here with me."

"Get to the shack now. Sam is in bad shape. I need someone to go dial the gate. We have to get her out of her now or she won't make it home. Teal'c NOW!"

And then it happened. Everyone came rushing in, and I could still hear a pin drop. Sam was dying. I heard her take her last breath.

"SAM! No! Breathe dammit! BREATHE!" I began to pound as hard and fast as I could. She could not do this right now. We were this close to going home.

"Sam… Please." My voice broke as Teal'c pulled me off of her, picked her up, and ran. I'd seen the big fellow run before. But this, this was a different run. He was running faster than I could ever remember. I followed him. My legs were numb and screaming in agony. But I couldn't stop. By the time we made it to the gate, Vala had it open and Mitchell had already gone through. As we crossed the event horizon I felt the tightness in my chest began to ease. We had made it home. I knew that the doctors and Vala could help bring her back. As I ran with the med team to the operating room, I couldn't help but relax. We were home. When I hit the doors and was forced to stop. The pain and anguish of the last 12 hours hit me. It hit me like a freight train. I sat in the chairs in the hallway to the operating room and heaved everything I had on to the floor. I couldn't hold it down anymore. I heaved and cried. Teal'c put his hand on my back to let me know he was there. When I finally came up for air, I knew that everything was going to be alright.

We were home.


End file.
